Chapter 14
THE HEIST
By the two-hour mark, the novelty of this experience has severely worn off.
The investors have cleared out, half the pods have been dismissed, but Doctor Kade claims the photographers need a few more pictures of our group.
Mister M floats around the table, barking orders under his breath and posing ridiculously. I’d laugh if I weren’t exhausted.
I never thought I’d be eager for sedation. Especially sedation that doesn’t work. But I need time to think. Or to breathe without someone telling me I’m doing it wrong.
I lift my teacup again, smiling through a sip of tea-colored water that tastes faintly of metal. It’s gone cold. Though I’m not sure it was warm in the first place, considering it’s not tea.
Ivy rests her head on her hand, eyes fluttering no matter how hard she fights to keep them open.
She wasn’t always this tired. If I remember right—which is admittedly unlikely—Ivy was a completely different person at intake.
Feisty, sharp, almost as spirited as June.
I think she’s being over-sedated, but no one will give me a straight answer.
Mister M claims she’s lazy; Doctor Kade says she “presents better subdued.”
Her hand slips, head conking the table. She jolts up, wincing.
Mister M rolls his eyes, thrusting a textbook her way. “If you can’t look alive, at least keep the book in front of your face. We don’t need them thinking you’re bored, now do we?”
“We are bored,” June whines as she writes the principles of social etiquette for the fourteenth time.
“Then be bored quietly,” he says, fixing his jacket for the third time in a minute. “And photogenically, if possible.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Doctor Kade interrupts with a syrupy smile. “We’re finished for today.”
June cheers, ignoring the glares it earns her. I push to my feet before Kade can change her mind and keep us here.
Avery follows, swaying slightly. Her smile slips. It takes me a second to notice she’s gone pale. Sweat beads on her forehead. Her eyes don’t seem to be moving right…or at all.
Doctor Kade notices first. “Avery, dear, are you all right?”
Avery blinks slowly, turning to Mister M. “Did someone turn off the music?”
A shiver runs down my spine, because there wasn’t any music.
“She’s fine,” Mister M says, but he’s not looking at her anymore.
Doctor Kade steps forward, pen-light already raised to check Avery’s pupils. “Take her to diagnostics.”
His jaw ticks. “Now?”
“Now.”
“You’re all right,” he murmurs to Avery, fingers brushing her sleeve as he guides her out. “Let’s get you checked.”
Doctor Kade turns to the side door we entered from. Ralston and Ryder are posted there, wristbands blinking blue with fresh orders. “Escort them back.”
June tugs on my sleeve as we fall into a loose line. “That was weird.”
Bri joins us, eyes wide. “She’s probably just sick, right?”
“Probably,” I say, since it’s the only thing that makes sense. I mean, she certainly looked sick.
Maybe she drank too much fake tea.
The enrichment hall reeks of lemon disinfectant, so overpowering it makes my eyes water. A pair of gray-uniformed enforcers turns the corner ahead, pushing a cart stacked with cleaning supplies and covered bins. One tips his chin toward us in greeting.
“Clearing out?” Ralston asks, nodding to the cart.
“Deep-clean.” The enforcer shrugs. “Some board member complained about the air quality or something. Boss freaked. Now he wants the whole hall spotless by lights out.”
Ralston tilts his head. “That so? About time someone took a broom to this floor.”
“Yeah.” Ryder laughs. “Who knows what’s lurking under all the dust.”
My spine stiffens, because I can think of one thing that was lurking quietly until a few days ago.
The book.
I wasn’t finished with it yet, so I stashed it behind our pod’s stack of sketchbooks. But if someone finds it there—
This is bad. Whether or not the book belongs here, it wasn’t given to us, and I have no good excuse as to why we would have it. My chest burns with the foreign desire to do something I know is stupid. But I force my legs to move on.
We drift deeper into the enrichment hall.
Ryder jokes about the poor enforcers stuck on maid duty.
Ralston smacks him in the back of the head.
June laughs like it was the joke of the century.
I trail behind, trying to convince myself that this is totally fine and I didn’t just walk past a ticking timebomb that I don’t have the tools to defuse.
My eyes catch as we turn the corner. The door to art room 3-A is wide open, and more importantly, vacant.
I’m moving before the rational part of my brain has time to catch me.
My flats echo on the hollow tiles, which only makes me move faster.
The shelf is waiting, as overstuffed and messy as we left it.
I dig around our row, almost toppling a stack of recycled workbooks in my escapade.
Wheels squeak as a cart rattles down the hall.
My fingers move faster, pushing past dusty piles of materials from girls that must’ve graduated years ago.
I shove the rest of it aside, snaking my arm into the crevice behind.
The book gives me a papercut as I grab it, but I’m so overcome with relief that I don’t have it in me to care.
Bootsteps sound nearby. I shove the book under my cardigan and fold my arms tight, which makes me look exactly as guilty as I feel.
Ryder pokes his head into the doorway, huffing an exaggerated sigh of relief when his eyes find mine. “If you were trying to give me a heart attack,” he says, stepping into view and leaning on the doorframe. “Congratulations. Mission accomplished.”
“Sorry! I uh, thought I left something.”
He nods slowly. “Your common sense? Your survival instincts?”
“I—” My pulse kicks as I try to conjure up any sort of excuse.
“Relax. Turning you in isn’t worth the effort, or the lecture I’d get for losing you in the first place. Whatever you’re doing—”
“I wasn’t doing anything.”
He eyes the shelves, then me. “Right. Well, whatever you’re not doing, finish not doing it faster. We gotta go.”
I nod eagerly, ever-so-grateful to be caught by the world’s laziest enforcer. We have to run to catch up, but Ryder offers an easy smirk as we fall into step behind the group. Ralston turns, raising a brow at us.
Ryder shrugs. “Bathroom break. Happens to the best of us.”
“You couldn’t have waited five minutes?” His eyes briefly flick down to where the book is nestled against my chest, but he’s too respectful to let his gaze linger for more than a moment.
I shake my head. “Sorry, it won’t happen again.”
Ralston nods, unconvinced but not pushing.
He checks the schedule on his clipboard as we cross back into the pod hall.
“Your uniforms should be laid out on your beds. Change quickly and wait in the common room. Afternoon lectures start in fifteen minutes, and if you’re late again, we aren’t covering for you. ”
“Ryder will,” June laughs. “If we bribe him.”
Ryder scoffs. “Bribe me? With what?”
Ralston opens the pod door, rolling his eyes. “I’m serious. Make it quick.”
“Yes, sir.” June mock salutes, not moving.
He cracks the smallest of smiles. “Go. Before I drag you.”
She giggles, almost knocking me over as she rushes into the room.
The book shakes free from my arms, sending me scrambling to catch it before it hits the tile.
My heart rate spikes, cuff flashing in warning as I regain my grip.
Not fast enough. Bri gasps, eyes wide, pointing like the book might bite.
“May! How did you—”
June clamps a hand over Bri’s mouth, dragging her by the arm toward her room and fighting back a laugh. She tips her head toward my door, reminding me that I should already be moving.
My door shuts behind me before my brain can even register I’ve moved. I stash the book under my mattress before collapsing to the bed. Thoughts tangle as my mind fights to catch up with what I just did.
I snuck away from an enforcer, lied to the face of said enforcer, and stole a book that may or may not belong here…emphasis on may not. Then—to top it all off—hid said contraband in my room, of all places.
That has to be, like, a million levels of bad, right?
No.
I think of the markings, the notes, the little drawings in the margins. This book was clearly important to someone. I didn’t steal it. I just…kept it safe.
Curiosity isn’t rebellion unless you get caught.
That’s what I tell myself, anyway.